RESEARCH

1) Sexual Harassment & Assault

Extensive social science research has confirmed that sex discrimination in fraternities inculcates norms which normalize and encourage various forms of sexual violence, resulting in much higher rates of sexual assault by fraternity members.[i]As has been verified extensively in the workplace, sexual harassment and assault are both produced by and, in turn, reinforce sex segregation.[ii] At Yale, fraternities have been at the center of multiple claims of sexual harassment and assault, including the 2014 UWC claim against Sigma Alpha Epsilon and the 2011 OCR complaint involving Zeta Psi and Delta Kappa Epsilon. [iii]Numerous articles in campus publications confirm that many students expect to experience sexual harassment and are often unsafe and excluded at fraternity parties. [iv] Fraternities’ monopoly over hosting large parties—sororities are banned from doing so and few other social spaces of this size exist—exacerbates this dynamic as fraternity men ultimately have power over everyone in their space.

2) LGBTQ+ Exclusion

Sex-segregated spaces reinforce traditional conceptions of a gender binary which alienate and exclude LGBTQ students.Setting gender as the most important criterion for gaining membership in a group necessarily stigmatizes students with different gender and sexual identities. As a result, members of all-male organizations such as fraternities are much more likely to engage in homophobic and transphobic harassment and bullying.[v]Trans and queer students at Yale have written extensively in campus publications about how gender segregation excludes and stigmatizes LGBTQ students.[vi]

3) Unequal Economic Opportunities

Fraternities provide extensive professional networks to their male members, which help facilitate access to employment opportunities, particularly in business and finance.[vii] Given the exclusion of women from and the vast underrepresentation of LGBTQ students and students of color among fraternity membership, fraternity members have access to economic opportunities which other students are barred from accessing and competing for—in clear contradiction of the mission of educational institutions. Beyond explicit networks, fraternities reinforce in-group preferences and out-group stereotypes which have been empirically documented to limit opportunities for employment and advancement for women as well as LGBTQ students and students of color.[viii]